2011 Chardonnay
Dragon Fly - 2011 Chardonnay
Blend:
100% Chardonnay
Region:
Willow Bridge Estate, Geographe, WA
Bottled:
July 2011
Release Date:
October 2011
Technical Data:
- Alcohol 12.5%vol
- Total Acidity 6.6gm/lt
- pH 3.25
- Residual Sugar 1.5gm/lt(dry)
Winemaker:
Simon Burnell and Jane Dunkley
Winemakers Notes:
~ Style ~
Pure, clean and refreshing, yet distinctly 'chardonnay' - white-fleshed stone fruits with a twist of zesty citrus.
~ Background ~
Chardonnay hails from north-eastern France where it is made into a number of styles ranging from full bodied whites in Burgundy through to the delicate fizz of Champagne. Somewhere between these are the mostly unoaked racy whites of Chablis. This Dragonfly Chardonnay is designed to capture the essence of this noble variety when grown in suitable sites and without showing significant influence from oak or the winemaker. One third of the wine was pressed directly to second fill Burgundian coopered French oak barrels and naturally fermented. The rest saw no oak at all, being cool fermented to dryness as clear juice in stainless steel tanks. After settling for three months on yeast lees, the blend was assembled and bottled without further ado. Crisp and refreshing in style, it aims to highlight the classic white-fleshed stonefruit, almond blossom and citrussy characters of the variety, without the heaviness sometimes imparted by oak, malolactic fermentation and other winemaking techniques.
~ Facts and Figures ~
The season: Unlike the rest of the country, 2011 was another magnificent vintage in the Ferguson Valley - our fifth in a row. Post vintage 2010 we saw our regularly calm, mild and sunny autumn last until......summer came along again. 2010 was thus the driest year for a century or more in much of the area. Our normally clockwork-like winter and spring cold fronts generally bypassed us to dump on the south-eastern states they had been avoiding for the last few years. The growing season to veraison (grape puberty where they start to soften and reds become...red) therefore saw some reduction in disease pressure, vegetal growth and potential yield versus the ‘average’ year. January 2011 delivered two unseasonal rainfall injections of an inch or so each. With twenty days of dry and sunny weather in between them, they couldn’t have been better timed. Just when we thought that the worm may have had turned and we may be harvesting from canoes like some of our eastern-states brethren, Australia Day onwards saw the start of another record spell, with local stations recording up to 90% of days to the end of February over 30 degrees. The absence of any nasty spikes above 37 degrees meant that most varieties ripened quickly and in good condition, but all at once. Whilst the vines and grapes suffered very little stress, the people involved in vintage certainly did, with our last red picked on the 25th of March breaking our previous record early finish by three days.
Vineyards : Estate grown in the Ferguson Valley on our 'Henty' and 'Cotterill' Chardonnay blocks, both planted at 1250 vines/Ha to the Gin-Gin (Mendoza) chardonnay clone in 1998, and both on classic WA "Marri soil" (a deep layer of ironstone gravely loam over red and yellow friable clay) with slight westerly aspects. Vines are spur pruned and vertically trellised (VSP).
~ Tasting Notes ~
Appearance: Pale gold
Nose: Honeysuckle florals over nectarines and cream. A hint of miso like seaweed complexity in there as well.
Palate: Medium bodied, with a fine oatmeal texture. White fleshed stone fruits with light fresh cream are followed by hints of ginger and a twist of citrussy acidity on the finish.
Cellaring: It is made to be enjoyed whilst young and fresh, yet will reward cellaring for up to four years for those who appreciate the characters that come with maturity.
